BJCP Styles: 13A - Dark Mild, 14A - Scottish Light, 14B - Scottish Heavy
It's a 3-fer! The top end of Scottish Light is 3.2%, which is the bottom end of Scottish Heavy, and well within range for Dark Mild so I shot down the middle with this recipe. The colors, flavors, and ingredients are similar so I'm knocking these all out at once. I do have more specific recipes for each one I may do in the future. But for now it's the Scott Mild.
After brewing Dark Matter earlier, this was a breeze. The grain bill was 25% of the Imperial Stout and the brew session went by quick.
Full recipe is on BrewersFriend but here's the TL;DR
- Brewday: 2018-10-21 (brew 2 of 2)
- Malts: Maris Otter, c120, chocolate
- Hop: [Magnum]
- Yeast: SafAle S-04 (active slurry)
- OG: 1.035, FG 1.010, ABV 3.3%
- Kegged: 2018-10-27 (brewday +6!)
Grains
Mash temp
Boil - Just one hop addition. This is a malt-forward style so we don't want any extra hop shenanigans getting in the way.
Floor Manager Steve decided to sit this one out. Thanks Steve. I'll just get this one by myself.
Into the fermenter
Brix adjusted to 1.035. Couple of points higher than what I wanted but close enough
And away we go
2018-10-26 (+5): Fermentation complete; brix check: FG 1.008; tasting good. will probably keg it up in the next day or so.
2018-10-27 (+6): why wait? into the keg with some gelatin. Hoping it'll clear by next weekend. Hydrometer reading was a couple of points higher than the refractometer at 1.010 putting us at 3.3% which is closer to my target of 3.2 anyway.
2018-10-29 (+8): fully carbonated sample on nitro. Tasting great - especially for only 8 days from milling the grain. It's dry with a solid malt component and some slight coffee/chocolate from the chocolate malt.
2018-10-31 (+10): half pour. Tasting pretty dry and there's a bit too much roast coming through from the chocolate malt. I'd rather have a bigger malt presence. We'll see how it shapes up as it ages a bit. Still really drinkable and tasty, but I might adjust the recipe to boost the malt a bit next time.
2018-11-6 (+16): full pour. Has really smoothed out; none of the thin body and slight roasty character I was getting at first. Shaping up to be a solid English/Scottish session beer. Near perfect clarity and color.
